It was originally planned for Daud to cut off Corvo's left hand at the beginning of the Flooded District mission. The player could've then recovered the hand, re-enabling their access to Corvo's Powers, much like they can recover their gear to regain their weaponry in the shipped version of the game. Below is my compilation of all the content related to this event I could find in the files of the shipped game.
This scene would've taken place during the intro sequence to the Flooded District, continuing the cutscene in which Daud reveals that he knows what the Outsider's Mark is, and which in the released game ends with him telling Corvo "you're a mystery, and I can't allow that" and knocking him unconscious. This cutscene was (and still is) called "Cutting the Hand" in the files. Two additional moments of this scene that do not get used in the final game are called "Hand_is_Cut" and "Hand_is_Gone".
At least part if not all of the animation sets for Corvo and Daud for this scene are still in the files. Daud has an unused animation named "DaudCutTheHand" which would've been 51 frames long, while Corvo has two animations, one called "PlyHandCutIn" which would've lasted 61 frames and another, which would've followed the first, which is called "PlyHandCutLoop" and would've lasted 31 frames, looping for however long was necessary to complete scene. Given that these animations are still in the files it should be theoretically possible to at least see these animations play out by replacing one or more of the other intro animations with these animations. Unfortunately I'm not knowledgeable enough to do this. If anyone is more familiar with Unreal animations, the animation sequences discussed here are all in L_Flooded_FRefinery_Intro and are Tall_SC_Flooded.Tall_SC_Flooded.AnimSequence_23 (DaudCutTheHand), Ply_SC_Flooded.Ply_SC_Flooded.AnimSequence_26 (PlyHandCutIn) and Ply_SC_Flooded.Ply_SC_Flooded.AnimSequence_27 (PlyHandCutLoop) respectively.
There is an associated console event in the Flooded Intro map which is called "Handy", however activating this event doesn't do anything in the shipped game. I'm fairly confident that it would've been used to skip straight to the cutting scene for testing purposes, as most console events tend to be skips to specific parts of maps or scenes.
The hand would later be found in the Refinery map, most likely at the bottom of the Refinery tower where we can pick up our gear in the shipped version. There are SequenceFrames on this map with the comments "Recover Your Hand" and "Get the Hand". The FX file for this map also includes a group of particle emitters and a light that would've helped spruce up the detached hand, "CutedHand_Light" and "Flo_CutedHand_01" (sic).
One of the buildings in the Flooded District earned the developer nickname "HandBuilding" - presumably this was the Greaves Refinery tower, although we cannot be completely 100% certain of that. This nickname is reflected in several environment asset group names used throughout the Flooded District, like "HandBuildingInterior"," or "HandBuildingVista".
The Whaler sentinels watching the streets around Rudshore would've had some sort of reaction to Corvo recovering his hand, as there is a Sequence Frame with the comment "After the Hand" in their package (and since the cutting would've taken place in the intro of the mission, it wouldn't make sense for this to have been a change that came after the initial cutting of the hand, only after the recovery). What this reaction would've been - there is no additional Whaler dialogue referencing the hand in the files - is unclear.
In the finished game, the objective to recover your gear is still internally named "obj_FloodedHand". This objective, which is added to the player's list after they wake up from their short stint in the Void between the intro and the level proper, would've originally told the player to recover Corvo's hand - it's not clear whether recovering his gear would've been included in this objective nor if Corvo would've been stripped of his gear at all.
Five lines of cut dialogue from the Flooded District are connected to this event. During the intro scene, Daud would've said the following additional lines:
"The blade's sharp. You won't feel it much."
"See that this is cauterized. Properly, mind you. Put him to sleep and move him into the warehouse across the street."
The OneShot that these lines are from - the conversation package that includes these lines as well as the ones spoken by Daud during the intro that remain in the shipped version of the game - is nicknamed "Hand is Cut" and its associated bank of voicelines is named "Flooded_HandisCut_DlgData". Said voicebank as it is available in the shipped game does not include the cut lines. The description of this OneShot doesn't offer more insight into this scene as it simply states that "Daud is calm and urbane. He seems to be talking to Corvo as an equal". (Calm and urbane handcutting... just guys being bros)
During the climactic fight with Daud in the Whaler base, Daud was supposed to be able to say one line referring to this event, which was ultimately cut from the game and not included in his fighting voicebank:
"This time I'll cut off more than a hand!"
The remaining two cut voicelines that would've been connected to this event come from the short scene between the intro scene in the Refinery and Corvo waking up in his vat, in which we get to briefly visit the Void and hear some commentary on recent events from the Outsider. Where in the finished game this scene concludes with the line "Maybe none of these. Perhaps that's just the nature of man", it originally would've continued with the following:
"Your missing hand is lying at the base of an oil-soaked tower across the street."
"I suggest you awaken and go find it, because I happen to know you'll need it."
This OneShot is nicknamed "Outsider Gives Hand Objective". I would not be surprised if the "oil-soaked tower across the street" is the Greaves Refinery tower from which you can recover your gear (and only your gear, in the base game) - it's visible right across the street from where you exit the building with the vats, it's visibly splattered with whale oil even from this distance, and it's where the cutting scene would've most likely taken place.
Two cranks in the Flooded District, one in the streets and one in the Refinery, would've been "locked" until Corvo successfully recovered his detached hand. When the player would have tried to use these cranks without having first recovered the hand, they would not have turned, instead displaying the message "You need both hands to turn this". These two cranks are the one located on the lower level of the Refinery and the one that controls the gate to the bridge connecting the warehouse with the dead Overseers and the Rudshore Central Station yard.
This concludes the cut content associated with this event. There is no further mention of this event in the files for the remaining maps of the game (the sewer, the assault on the Pub, Kingsparrow Island and its lighthouse) - at least nothing referencing a "cut" or a "hand", which is what I searched those files for. There are also no other relevant mentions of hands in the NamesDump.
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